There's a considerable difference between those players, and Travis Moen. Moen isn't a key piece to the future of the Habs. I'd be happy w/ a 3rd rnd pick, if whoever is handling the tear down can get that for him.

Those players were all UFAs too..... I don't see the difference.

All four players (including Moen) are great 3rd liners and PKers.

The three listed win some faceoffs while moen brings more grit, toughness, and a stanley cup ring..

Why even move Moen? He is exactly the type of player we need on our bottom 2 lines. Big, works hards, finishes his check and has a little offensive upside.

Unless you can replace that from within, trading him for a 2nd/3rd is not goin to help us for the next 4-5 seasons. I fully believe this team can be competitive in 1-2 years with proper asset management and a few key moves. Moen can be a part of this.

Moen is a UFA... you need to sign him or trade him. No point losing him for nothing.

And please, keep Carcillo as far away from the Habs as possible ! What a total jerk !

The point is there is a long list of guys who could replace Travis Moen available in UFA, and that wasn't even going through the entire list. The guy isn't untouchable, and if you can get a 2nd round pick or decent prospect for him, you should do it.

Brandon Prust is a very valuable player, like Moen and a better fighter than Moen.
Tootoo isn't the type of guy that is on UFA market often.
Adam Burish barely is an NHL player and a weak fighter.
Gregory Campbell - fine, but he's weaker than Moen.
Taylor Pyatt is big but barely/rarely fights.
Arron Asham is a valuable player, a Travis Moen look a like.
Shawn Thornton is a HW fighter, beats the sh** out of everyone you have mentionned, and is going to be locked by Boston.
Dan Carcillo is a valuable player too.

Now, there are 30 other teams looking for this type of players. We do have one in Montreal, why trading him or why letting him test the UFA market?

The point is there is a long list of guys who could replace Travis Moen available in UFA, and that wasn't even going through the entire list. The guy isn't untouchable, and if you can get a 2nd round pick or decent prospect for him, you should do it.

I am not confident that Gauthier can sign any big bodies to play on our bottom two lines. There was a very ,long lists of that kind of players last summer and he finnaly traded Russell for Blunden a borderline AHL/NHL player.

A second-round pick who's gonna play in 4 years for the Habs don't help.

Brandon Prust is a very valuable player, like Moen and a better fighter than Moen.
Tootoo isn't the type of guy that is on UFA market often.
Adam Burish barely is an NHL player and a weak fighter.
Gregory Campbell - fine, but he's weaker than Moen.
Taylor Pyatt is big but barely/rarely fights.
Arron Asham is a valuable player, a Travis Moen look a like.
Shawn Thornton is a HW fighter, beats the sh** out of everyone you have mentionned, and is going to be locked by Boston.
Dan Carcillo is a valuable player too.

Now, there are 30 other teams looking for this type of players. We do have one in Montreal, why trading him or why letting him test the UFA market?

You must sign him and keep him.

Those players are all UFA on July 1st... unless re-signed. We certainly would have the opportunity at one or more of them.

I am not confident that Gauthier can sign any big bodies to play on our bottom two lines. There was a very ,long lists of that kind of players last summer and he finnaly traded Russell for Blunden a borderline AHL/NHL player.

A second-round pick who's gonna play in 4 years for the Habs don't help.

The players last summer that everyone wanted... Winchester, Konopoka, etc... are UFAs again, and are just not very good hockey players.

At least Blunden has proved capable of taking a regular shift without being a liability. These guys can't.

Winchester was like -18 last year, and Konopka takes the most minor penalties (putting his team short handed) per minute of ice time of anyone in the NHL.

Moen isnt a top 6 player but you need 20 guys all filling certain roles to win. Easier to replace a Moen than a Cole for sure, but Moen is a hell of a bottom 6 player, hes big, physical and he can play hockey, especially defensively responsible. Such players arent a dime a dozen. Eller is progressing this year on a line with Moen and AK. This is a big line, a physical line, a line that is pretty solid defensively and will likely score 50 goals this year. Why in the world would you not try to keep it together and try to sign our 2 UFA wingers ? Are there that many UFAs out there better than AK and Moen in terms of what we are looking for them to do ? Doubt it, and we will have to compete to sign them. Just makes sense to me to try to keep these guys even at the cost of some picks.

Those players will not sign for a team where they will be the toughest fighters and the enforcers by forfeit, when they're not real enforcers.

You need a Mike Rupp to convince Brandon Prust to sign a contract.
You need a Steve MacIntyre or a Deryk Engelland to convince Arron Asham to sign a contract.
You need a Georges Laraque to convince Travis Moen to sign a contract.
You need a Chris Neil or a Matt Carkner to convince Zenon Konopka to sign a contract.
You need a Colton Orr or a Jay Rosehill to convince Mike Brown to sign a contract.

And out of those guys (Moen, Prust, etc), you don't have a lot of legit fighters that are legit players at the same time.

this, right here. Moen is the type of guy you need to have team toughness but he can't be the tough guy. keep adding players like him, but unless a majority are like that he can't play that tough (cuz he isn't compared to the heavyweights who dont have the skills to make from anything else)

last year there was a ton of moen type of players available, same thing 2 years ago and gauthier did nothing. it will be the same thing next summer. he will not sign any of those players and nobody on this team will drop the gloves...

I would only trade Moen if the return was good (at least 2nd rounder or equivalent propect), or he didn't want to re-sign here.

As for replacements, Derek Wills was mentioning that Schultz has really improved this year, maybe he might be ready next year.

Thinking about replacement is exactly what made our team what it is right now.

When you try to add skills, you don't let a good player go and then try to find a replacement for him. You try to add to the skill you already have. Now that skills are not an issue with the Habs, we have to find team toughness, and toughness is a type of skill.

To convince players that build that team toughness (Moens, Schultzs, Prusts, Ashams, etc) to sign a contract and to be willing to play for your team, you must carry one tough guy. It may be Shawn Thornton, Matt Carkner, George Parros, Mike Rupp or Deryk Engelland, we don't care. It must be the one that's going to be willing to handle other teams' tough players, what Moens and Prusts can't really by themselves.

After you get this one tough player, you can add, with trades or with UFA contracts, many other tough players that consolide this team toughness.